58

Wu Hufan 1894-1968 Chinese Watercolor on Paper

Currency:USD Category:Antiques Start Price:300.00 USD Estimated At:1,000.00 - 2,000.00 USD
Wu Hufan 1894-1968 Chinese Watercolor on Paper
ABSENTEE-ONLY BIDDING AVAILABLE. HIGHEST BIDS WILL BE TAKEN TO LIVE AUCTION FLOOR.

888 Auctions endeavors to accurately describe the items being sold, but all property offered for sale is strictly as is, where is, and with all faults. All representations or statements made by 888 Auctions and its representatives, or in the catalogue or other publication or report, as to the correctness of description, genuineness, attribution, provenance, or period of the Lot, are statements of opinion only.
Ink and watercolor on paper. Featuring landscape scene of rocks and lingzhi mushroom. Signed Wu Hufan (1894-1968, Chinese) and inscribed with one artist seal. 80 x 36 cm. Wu Hufan (Chinese, 1894–1968) was a leading traditional painter, known as a collector and connoisseur, as well as for his landscape works. Born in Suzhou in the Jiangsu province, Wu was the grandson of calligrapher and painter Wu Dacheng, and, from a young age, was able to study the works of masters such as the "Four Wangs" of the Qing dynasty. He later studied the painting of Dong Qichang and other artists from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the Northern and Southern Song, and Yuan and Ming dynasties. Wu spent the early part of his life in the Shanghai region, and, following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, taught at the Shanghai Institute of Chinese Painting. He went on to become one of the city’s most important connoisseurs, writing extensively about the works in his collection. Wu was known for his elegant brushwork, as well as his delicate ink tones and textured rendering of mountains and trees. His work was firmly rooted in tradition, characterized by clearly defined foregrounds, middle grounds, and distances, and made more modern by his use of color. In particular, Wu’s work is noted for its lack of any reference to the dramatically shifting political landscape of 1950s and 1960s China. Although Wu focused primarily on landscape paintings, he was also interested in drawing, and executed a number of flower and bamboo works. Following a physical collapse, the artist was admitted to a hospital, where he committed suicide in 1968.